France, through the French Development Agency (AFD), has awarded a prize to two start-ups from the 2020 Cohort of the AFD Inclusive and Digital Business (AFIDBA) challenge, in the presence of H.E Anne Sophie Avé, the French Ambassador to Ghana.

The challenge, which was launched in 2019 in Ghana, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Morocco, saw Trisolace and Giddins becoming the winners of the 2020 challenge in Ghana, after a keen competition organized by INNOHUB Ghana.

Giddins engages and empowers school drop-outs within the community with knowledge on sustainable fashion and with this skillset; make shoes/fashion items of international standards from recycled materials.

Trisolace provides snail boxes made from recycled materials for food production and for employment opportunities as a solution to the many investment frauds in Africa.

The AFIDBA project encourages and facilitates the development of inclusive and digital young businesses. It has a two-pronged approach: an incubation programme that supports the entrepreneur in the early stages of their project, and the acceleration programme, aimed at more mature start-ups wishing to scale up.

Through this project, France is strengthening, promoting and empowering these start-ups along their entrepreneurship journey. This in turn goes to strengthen the local economic fabric in a sustainable and inclusive manner and to promote digital and social innovation.

This project will also strengthen the support structures for entrepreneurship and incubators, thus improving the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Ghana.

“Supporting Ghanaian companies, pushing talents and entrepreneurs is one of France's contributions to Ghana's economic development… Beyond Aid,” the French Ambassador to Ghana, Her Excellency Anne Sophie Avé noted.

This ties in perfectly with the government’s interest in youth employment, which is reflected in entrepreneurship initiatives such as the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency and the National Plan for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

“We are pleased to have been part of the design and implementation of the AFIDBA Accelerator in Ghana. Through the three cycles, we have seen real growth for the businesses supported by the programme, with an enhanced commitment to inclusivity and impact at the bottom of the pyramid populations. We especially thank the French Development Agency in particular for this initiative, and the French Government in general for its commitment to investing in young entrepreneurs in Africa through the Choose Africa initiative”, INNOHUB’s Chief Executive, Nelson Amo added.

Women entrepreneurs and women as beneficiaries of formal economic activities constitute a selection criterion and a monitoring indicator. In particular, they benefit from training to promote women involvement in entrepreneurship. Specific targeting are also carried out when selecting the start-ups supported: at least 30% of them are expected to be carried by women.